Nine county RL youngsters called up for national squads
Last updated 12:27, Tuesday, 16 September 2008
West Cumbrian rugby league is flourishing with nine talented youngsters named in national squads this week.
The RFL Performance and Coaching department has announced the names of the young players who have been selected for the 2008 National Squads at under-under 14, 15 and 16 levels,
The biggest local contingent is in the under-14s, with five up and coming stars of the future selected.
Jamie Doran and Rorie Henderson, of Kells ARL are named, along with fellow Whitehaven RL scholarship player Jamie Phillips, of Hensingham.
They are joined by Workington Town scholarship star Scott Rooke, of Seaton and Cockermouth’s Jack Gaskell.
The under-15 side will have a local coach in Whitehaven RL’s Gary Hewer and he will have two West Cumbrians under him.
Workington Town scholarship member Liam McAvoy, who plays for Broughton Red Rose and Kells’ Martin O’Neill, who is on a scholarship at Haven, are both named.
And Egremont Rangers have a duo in the under-15 side, with James McDonald and Jared Stewart selected, who are both on the Haven scholarship programme.
The players in the under-14s will attend a six day national camp at Mount St Mary’s School, near Sheffield, which will include specialist coaching and performance assessment as well as performance workshops and mentoring sessions.
They will undertake their activity as two squads of 20 and the week will finish with a match between teams formed from each squad.
The under-15s and under-16s will both meet to train regularly as separate squads with their first camp taking place at Mount St Mary’s.
The under-16s will be coached by current Leeds Rhinos assistant coach and former Leeds and international winger Francis Cummins.
They will train as a squad of 24 before final selection of the English Schools under-16s team in preparation for their annual two game series against France at Easter 2009.
The under-15s, with boss Hewer,will also train as a squad of 24 ready for final selection of the England Youth team in preparation for their annual Test against Wales under-16s next Easter.
Commenting, the RFL’s Performance Director Jon Roberts said: “The selection of these squads are an important element of our annual Performance calendar and the successful player pathways that we operate.
“All members of each squad no have a great opportunity to progress as rugby league players and develop their skills and abilities and we wish them well and look forward to working with them.
“We are also delighted to be able to appoint talented young coaches such as Francis Cummins and Gary Hewer to these important positions and we believe they too will develop their coaching abilities by taking charge of these teams.”
